Venomoth was weak to Rock, and Zebstrika had 96% barrier points remaining. It would be hard to hold its ground.
"Zebstrika!"
Little Reporter gave the order decisively, and Zebstrika turned into a streak of lightning again.
She was going for a trade.
A drawn-out fight would not work, so she might as well have Zebstrika take down Seaking. Defeating two Pokémon in one appearance was more than enough for Zebstrika.
As the lightning struck Seaking, Venomoth flew forward to use "Toxic."
"Waterfall" and "Rock Slide" slammed into Zebstrika, also catching Venomoth as it used Toxic.
Seaking, Zebstrika, and Venomoth all had their barrier points depleted.
That left Onix, which was badly poisoned.
They really were forcing trades with the opposing Pokémon.
Xiao Chun and Yangbeila Branch School's starting Pokémon Trainer left the field. Onix's Pokémon Trainer had two options.
The first was to take over on the field, restoring 2% of both the Pokémon's and the Pokémon Trainer's barrier points.
The second was to send in someone else. There would be no barrier point recovery, but the advantage was being able to prepare off the field, with time to use the Trainer Skill "Disassembly" on the bad poisoning.
Onix had not even lost HP to the poison yet. Naturally, going off the field to remove the status condition was better.
On Pokémon High School's side, Little Reporter also had a choice: take over on the field or send in someone else.
"Let me."
Taichi stood up. "It has to be me."
Little Reporter only had Emolga left. At most, she could provide support from outside the field, as she was doing now.
It would also be within the rules for her to enter as the active battler and have Taichi support her from outside, but her understanding of battles and